The Summit County Rescue Group responded to five different instances of hikers postholing in soft, spring snow over the past weekend.

Postholing occurs when someone sinks into the snow to the point where it becomes difficult to move. Summit County Rescue Group mission coordinator Ben Butler said that volunteers staged four rescue missions on Quandary Peak, a 14,000-foot peak, and one at Acorn Creek, north of Silverthorne, between Friday, April 11, and Sunday, April 13.

“We’ve responded to a number of these incidents where folks are going out,” Butler said. “It’s generally a very warm day. What happens is the surface of the snow starts to melt and lose its structure, so it is no longer as supportive as it was at the beginning of the day.”

Summit County Rescue Group fields missions at Quandary Peak, one of Colorado’s most hiked 14ers, almost every year due to postholing hikers. Some years, hikers have lost shoes because they were postholing so deep.

With colder temperatures overnight, the snow surface in the spring is often frozen in the morning but will quickly break down as the temperature warms up and sunlight hits it, Butler said. So, while travel might be easy in the morning, it could become significantly more difficult as the day goes on and backcountry travelers start sinking into the snow, he said.

“We’re really starting to see that pattern where it’s getting nice out, folks are getting out and recreating, and as it gets later in the day that snow structure deteriorates to where it’s no longer supportable,” Butler said.

Because the snow tends to be more frozen in the mornings, the classic springtime advice is “start early, end early,” Butler said. He recommended carrying snowshoes or backcountry skis for added flotation as the snow begins to warm up.

Colorado Avalanche Information Center deputy director Brian Lazar said that “postholing can be very exhausting.” Because it can be easy to move over frozen snow in the morning but more difficult as the snow softens up, he said backcountry travelers should be “thinking about your entire trip plan, not only how long it’s going to take you to get out but the time it will take to get back.”

Additionally, avalanches can occur anywhere there is snow, and avalanche conditions change quickly in the springtime, Lazar said. In the spring, pinwheels, rollerballs and small avalanches near rocky terrain can be an indication that avalanche danger is increasing as the snow warms up and backcountry travelers should move to colder, more shaded slopes or out of avalanche terrain altogether, he said.

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Anyone traveling where there might be avalanche conditions should check the avalanche forecast at Colorado.gov/avalanche, carry a transceiver, probe and shovel, be trained on how to use that gear and travel with a partner who is also carrying that gear and trained to use it. Backcountry travelers should also always carry the 10 essentials.

In addition to the rescues over the weekend, Butler said that the rescue group also assisted people postholing at Quandary Peak and on the Tenderfoot Trail near Dillon about two weeks ago, for a total of seven calls for postholing hikers so far this month.

“Get early starts this time of year and understand that snow conditions are going to change really quickly,” Butler said. “We’ve had some almost record-setting warmth the last week or two, and that has drastically changed our snowpack, especially at lower elevations.”